A Soldier Under Her Tree

  The sound of a throat being loudly cleared filled the uneasy silence.

  Hannah closed her eyes. Just what she’d hoped to avoid—a witness to her family’s dysfunction and her personal humiliation.

  She opened her eyes and turned to face her customer. Russell Danielson. She’d met Russell this past summer. They’d hit it off and spent a glorious evening together. He’d promised to contact her when he got back to his duty station. He hadn’t.

  She’d been hurt when he’d ghosted her—disappointed, even—but not surprised.

  Russell looked around the room, taking in the scene, and then smiled. “Sorry I’m late.”

  “Uh.” Late for what? Until he’d stepped into her store, she hadn’t known he was in town.

  He crossed the room, not stopping until he was standing an inch in front of her. Before she could utter a word, he put his arms around her waist and pulled her into a kiss. He lingered for a few seconds before pulling away.

  “Who are you?” Hannah’s ex demanded.

  Russell spun around slowly, drawing himself up to his full height. “I’m Russell Danielson. Hannah and I are dating.”

  They were? That was news to her.

  * * *

  SWEET BRIAR SWEETHEARTS:

  There’s something about Sweet Briar...

  Dear Reader,

  Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.

  I love the lights and songs and the excitement that fills the air. I especially love Christmas romances and I’ve longed to write one of my own. A Soldier Under Her Tree is my first Christmas book, although I hope it’s not my last.

  This book tells the story of newly minted Scrooge, boutique owner Hannah Carpenter, who can’t wait for the season to end, and soldier Russell Danielson, who makes it his mission to restore her Christmas spirit.

  Thank you so much for picking up A Soldier Under Her Tree. I hope you enjoy it.

  I love hearing from my readers. Please feel free to visit my website, kathydouglassbooks.com, and drop me a line. While you’re there, sign up for my newsletter. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

  Happy reading!

  Kathy

  A SOLDIER UNDER HER TREE

  Kathy Douglass

  www.millsandboon.com.au

  KATHY DOUGLASS came by her love of reading naturally—both of her parents were readers. She would finish one book and pick up another. Then she attended law school and traded romances for legal opinions. After the birth of her two children, her love of reading turned into a love of writing. Kathy now spends her days writing the small-town contemporary novels she enjoys reading.

  To my readers.

  I am so grateful for you. Whether you’ve read each of my books, some of them or this is the first that you’ve picked up, I appreciate your support.

  To Charles Griemsman.

  You are an extraordinary editor. Your insightful comments help me turn ordinary characters into real people. We make a great team.

  To my husband and sons.

  Thank you so much for your consistent love and support. I love you all with my whole heart.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Excerpt from A Cowboy’s Christmas Carol by Brenda Harlen

  Chapter One

  Hannah Carpenter muttered to herself as she dragged the ladder toward the string of unlit Christmas lights, hoping against hope that she’d find the burned-out one on the first try. Not that she expected it to be easy. There were at least forty lights that were no longer blinking on this display near the jewelry rack. She didn’t have time to waste on this nonsense. If she had her druthers, she’d pull down all of the decorations, shove them into a box and forget that Christmas even existed.

  But she couldn’t. Christmas season had a big impact on her boutique’s annual bottom line. The sales from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve were nearly double those from January through March. Since she had bills to pay and employees depending on her for their livelihood, she’d leave the lights on and keep blasting the Christmas music, setting the mood for those customers who enjoyed the season. She might not possess the holiday spirit, but she knew how to keep up appearances.

  She yanked out a bulb. No change, so she put it back and tried the one beside it.

  She hadn’t always been a scrooge. Christmastime used to be her favorite season. She’d even planned her wedding for December 22. But that was before she’d caught her ex-fiancé in bed with her sister a week before the big day. Gerald’s initial shock and lame apologies had quickly morphed into indignation that she’d shown up at his place unannounced. To Hannah’s disbelief, Dinah had only smirked and tucked the blankets around her body more securely as if Hannah had been the interloper. Yeah, that experience three years ago had killed her love of Christmas and all of its associated gaiety.

  Even now, Hannah could picture her sister’s grin, and her stomach began to churn. Hannah forced the unhappy memory away as she yanked out another light. In thirty-three years she hadn’t been able to figure out what motivated her sister to act the way she did. She doubted today would be the day it all became clear. And did it really matter? Her sister was no longer a part of her life.

  After that heartbreak, Hannah had quit her job where she’d worked with Gerald, and moved from Virginia to Sweet Briar, North Carolina. Shortly thereafter, she’d opened her boutique, Designs by Hannah. It had taken a lot of work and even more good luck, but her boutique was successful. More important, she’d made a happy life for herself.

  After twenty-five tries, Hannah found the defective bulb, replaced it with the spare, descended the ladder and returned it to the storeroom. When she went back to the front of the shop, she looked around, checking to be sure that everything was in order. Every blouse, scarf, skirt and dress was hanging perfectly from its respective rack. There wasn’t a speck of dust on her gleaming oak floors, and the gold-trimmed mirrors were spotless. She’d changed the window display from the typical mannequins dressed in one of her outfits to three elves placing neatly folded blouses wrapped in ribbon under a decorated tree. Every day kids pressed their fingers and noses on the window while they stared at the scene, making it necessary for her to clean the glass every morning.

  Satisfied, she checked her watch and then switched on her curated playlist of Christmas music. If she was going to be forced to listen to holiday songs for weeks on end, it would be limited to those she could tolerate. She couldn’t abide novelty songs, which was why she didn’t stream one of the internet stations playing only Christmas music where she couldn’t control what she heard.

  She unlocked the door, flipped the closed sign to Open and waited for the first customers of the day. Sweet Briar was a tourist town that overflowed with visitors in the summer months. Fortunately the mayor had great vision and had created reasons for people to visit year-round. As a result, Hannah did steady business and didn’t see much drop-off during the winter months. She’d been surprised by the volume of sales her first Christmas and hadn’t been prepared for the demand. But she’d been a fast learner. Now she stocked plenty of her exclusive clothing and jewelry for the season.

  The bell over her door tinkled, signaling the arrival of a shopper.

  “Come on in,” she called. “Look around at your leisure.”

  “Oh my, look at this place. It’s simply marvelous.”

  Hannah froze and then turned around at the sound of her mother’s voice. What was she doing here? And why was she praising Hannah? Eleanor had rarely—if ever—had a complimentary word for her. Hannah and her mother had never been close. They were too different for that. Eleanor Jones-Carpenter-Halloran-Spikes had always favored Dinah, who resembled her not only in physical appearance but also in values. They were both petite, model-thin, selfish social climbers.

  “What are you doing here?” Hannah noticed that her mother hadn’t come alone. Dinah and Gerald were standing behind her. Dinah looked smug as usual, although Gerald had the good grace to look uncomfortable.

  “I’ve come to see your boutique in person.” Eleanor walked around the shop, admiring Hannah’s designs as if the last words she’d said to Hannah—get over it—about Dinah and Gerald’s betrayal hadn’t happened. “It’s beautiful. The pictures in the magazine layout last month didn’t do it justice.”

  Hannah rubbed her head. Perhaps she’d fallen when she’d been replacing the bulb and had given herself a concussion. Or maybe she’d knocked herself out and she was lying unconscious on the floor by the jewelry display and this was an unfortunate nightmare. She glanced over there. Nope. Nothing to see there.

  “Why?” If there was one thing Hannah had learned, it was that her mother had a reason for everything she did. Nothing was ever done randomly or by chance.

  “Why what?”

  “Why did you come all the way to Sweet Briar to see the store now?” She’d owned the boutique for nearly three years and her mot
her had never once been inside.

  “Because you’re my daughter.”

  “And?”

  “And,” Eleanor added with annoyance, “it’s time for you and Dinah to put all the bad blood behind you and start acting like sisters.”

  Hannah didn’t say a word. The idea was so ridiculous it was comical. Besides, Hannah knew her mother had an ulterior motive. She’d never cared whether Dinah and Hannah got along. All that mattered was putting on a good front. So she waited for her mother to get to the real reason they’d left Virginia in the middle of the Christmas social season when there were elbows to rub and connections to make.

  “And I think the perfect gesture and symbol of this new beginning would be for you to design your sister’s wedding gown.”

  And there it was. The real reason they’d come to Sweet Briar. Her mother and sister might enjoy playing games, but Hannah didn’t have the appetite for it. She preferred honesty and straight shooting.

  “No.”

  “What do you mean no?” Eleanor’s perfectly shaped brows nearly disappeared into her hairline. Surely she hadn’t expected a different answer.

  “I mean I’m not going to design Dinah’s wedding dress. You’ve wasted your time coming here.” Hannah turned and spoke directly to her sister. “I don’t design wedding dresses, but if I did, I still wouldn’t design one for you.”

  “That’s not true. I saw the wedding dress that you designed for Arden Wexford. It was in all the magazines and on every celebrity TV show. That’s all people talked about for months.”

  Dinah wanted her picture to be in magazines and her face on television. It must have annoyed her to no end to see Hannah featured as an up-and-coming designer in a popular fashion magazine. Dinah and Eleanor hadn’t cared a whit about Hannah. But now they wanted to use their family tie, no matter how strained, in their never-ending quest for fame and fortune. Eleanor had used marriage as a ladder to climb to the top—or as close to it as she could get. Now that she was getting up there—in age as well in the number of ex-husbands—she’d turned her attention to Dinah as a means to that end.

  “You did design that dress,” her mother pointed out.

  “I also saw the gowns you made for that country singer and that movie star to wear on the red carpet,” Dinah said as if she could convince Hannah. “I’m your sister, so it’s only fair that if you design a dress for complete strangers, you should design one for me.”

  Dinah seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she’d hurt and betrayed Hannah. Even for someone as self-centered as she was, this was unbelievable.

  Eleanor nodded in agreement. No surprise there. Eleanor had always favored her older daughter.

  Hannah folded her arms over her chest. “First, Arden isn’t a stranger. She’s a friend.” Something Dinah and Eleanor no doubt already knew and hoped to use to their advantage. Although Hannah didn’t ordinarily design wedding dresses, she’d been pleased to create Arden’s.

  A few years ago, Arden’s car had broken down in Sweet Briar. She’d needed a break from the pressures of her prominent family, and had stayed over and worked as a waitress in her current husband’s restaurant. Arden and Hannah had become friends and she’d offered to design Arden’s dress. Hannah hadn’t done it for fame or money, but out of friendship. It was only because Arden was a member of the wealthy Wexford family that the dress had been newsworthy. Later Arden had introduced Hannah to a couple of celebrities who’d wanted Hannah to design dresses for them. “Second, although we share the same genes, you and I aren’t sisters in the true sense of the word. Sisters don’t screw each other’s fiancé.”

  Hannah knew she was being crass, but she didn’t care. She wasn’t about to try to put a sweet spin on her sister’s betrayal. Not when saying the words brought back the pain of that betrayal.

  “Why do you have to be like that? I tried to resist. We both did, for your sake. That’s why we didn’t get married right away. We were considering your feelings. But Gerald and I are in love and want to be together.”

  Hannah managed not to throw up the yogurt she’d grabbed for breakfast. Respect for her feelings wasn’t the reason Dinah and Gerald hadn’t gotten married three years ago. They hadn’t tied the knot because Dinah hadn’t been divorced yet. Her ex-husband hadn’t been in the mood to give her half of what he’d earned, so the proceedings had dragged on and on. Of course, had Dinah been as much in love with Gerald as she’d claimed, she would have just walked away from her then eight-month marriage and a huge settlement. But Dinah had absorbed their mother’s teaching quite well. Never leave a dollar behind.

  “I’m not stopping you. Get married. Have the biggest wedding the state of Virginia has seen. Heck, all of America has seen. But leave me out of it.”

  Gerald stepped forward then. Hannah had hoped to never see the weasel ever again. Yet here he was, standing right in front of her. He was average height with hair that was beginning to thin and cold, calculating eyes. Hannah wondered what she’d ever seen in him. When they’d worked together at his father’s architectural firm, she’d been impressed by what she’d interpreted as his drive and desire to make a name for himself. Now she realized that had just been a mirage.

  “Hannah, we weren’t right for each other.” Was he trying to sound sympathetic? If so, he was failing miserably. But then, true feelings weren’t included in his limited repertoire. “I know you feel the same way.”

  “You got that right.”

  “I know you’re hurt and disappointed,” he said as if he hadn’t heard a word she’d said. Apparently he’d prepared this speech and intended to recite every word of it. “But don’t hold it against Dinah.”

  “You’re unbelievable. Please, all of you, just leave.”

  “Not until you agree to make my dress,” Dinah said. Clearly trying to make nice was putting a strain on her and she was reverting to type.

  Hannah had a business to run. A customer could come in at any moment. She needed to put an end to this now.

  “You know, I can always call the chief of police. He’s a friend, too.”

  “You wouldn’t dare,” Eleanor said indignantly, pressing a manicured hand against her chest.

  “Actually I would,” Hannah said, hoping her mother wouldn’t call her bluff. Hannah didn’t want anyone in town, especially her friends, to know about her messed up family. She’d never told a soul about them or how Gerald had betrayed her. And she never would. But Eleanor didn’t know that.

  “There’s no need for that,” Eleanor said hastily, trying to get back on script. “Hannah, just consider what’s best for the family. And for you.”

  “How would it look if you, a successful dress designer to the stars, refuse to design a wedding dress for your only sister? It could harm your reputation if anyone ever found out how petty you’re being,” Dinah added.

  “Was that a threat? That’s an interesting strategy for someone asking a favor.”

  “I’m just pointing out the obvious. You like to pretend that you’re the victim. Poor betrayed Hannah. The truth is Gerald dumped you because he didn’t want you. He wanted me.” Dinah preened as if she were some sort of prize. “You’ve always been jealous of my beauty. I would have thought you’d gotten over it by now. Maybe if you could find a man, you wouldn’t be so bitter. But then, maybe you haven’t met anyone desperate enough.”

  Hannah gasped. That was low even for Dinah.

  The sound of a throat being loudly cleared filled the uneasy silence. Hannah closed her eyes. Just what she’d hoped to avoid—a witness to her family’s dysfunction and her personal humiliation.

  She opened her eyes and turned to face her customer.

  Russell Danielson. Her good friend’s brother. She’d met Russell this past summer when he’d been in Sweet Briar visiting his siblings and their families. They’d hit it off and spent a glorious evening together. He’d promised to contact her when he got back to his duty station. He hadn’t.

  She’d been hurt when he’d ghosted her—disappointed even—but not surprised. She was still down on men. Besides, though they’d had a couple of good conversations, those talks hadn’t involved anything truly personal. Still, she’d thought they’d connected. Clearly she’d been wrong.